Strength Characteristics and Mechanism of Tungsten Tailings Activated by the Different Biopolymers

In order to study the effect of different biopolymers on the unconfined compressive strength of tungsten tailings which come from Xing’an of Guilin, the strength of specimens activated by four different biopolymers was tested, and the specimens were prepared by considering the curing temperatures and the biopolymer concentrations. At the same time, the microscopic characteristics of all specimens were analyzed by XRD and SEM for analyzing the microscopic mechanism. The results showed that guar gum and xanthan gum had significant effects on the strength, while chitosan and AGAR had weak effects. The optimal curing temperature of biopolymer activated tungsten tailings depends on the biopolymer type, as follows, 90 ℃ for Guar gum and chitosan, and 100 ℃ for xanthan gum and AGAR. In addition, the strength of samples activated by the guar which the mass ratio to solid is 1.5% curing at temperature ≥70 ℃ and by the xanthan gum curing at temperature ≥60 ℃ were more than 10 MPa. It meets the strength requirements of building brick MU10. This results provide a theoretical basis for reusing of tungsten tailings.